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Marion,
your books A Child in Need and Tom Bradley's
Babies are finalists in this Years RBOTY Awards. What are these stories about and
how did they came to you?
 A Child In Need
is the first of my Bay Beach series -
it's a linking of four books with the common thread being a
child from the Bay Beach Children's Home. The impetus was
sitting on a beach in NSW thinking what a fabulous place and
what a waste to use it only once.
 Tom Bradley's Babies
started as a joke. Babies seemed
to be the flavour of the month so I wondered how many I
could fit in? The working title was Nine Babies for Tom.
As I started the book I'd just read an article about Red
Adair - the guy who flies around the world putting out oil
fires. I thought `What a hero!' So Tom was Red - give or
take forty years.
Could you tell us a little about the procedure for
entering the RBOTY award, and how you felt when you found
out you were a finalist?
Harlequin enters my books in the RBOTY - which is lovely of
them. It's expensive to enter for the RITA so most
Australian authors only enter the books they think might
have a chance. Maybe that's a shame because this is the
first year I've entered all eligible books and look what
happened! I don't think that we as authors can possibly
predict what's going to be a winner. Maybe as authors we're
just too close.
How
did I feel when I found out? I was rapt. I LOVE being a
finalist. As I love being part of RWA. The first few years
of writing were really lonely, and to feel part of a
community - especially a community that gives me such
positive feedback is wonderful.
Were your books chosen as finalists in the Rita Awards,
Adopted:
Twins and Doctor on Loan, also entered in the
RBOTY Award and vice versa?
The RITA awards are for books published later than the RBOTY
books. RBOTY accepts books published between 1st July and 30th June and
RITA accepts books published in the last calendar year. That
explains why Tom Bradley's Babies was a RITA finalist
last year and a RBOTY finalist this year. And no, I haven't
entered all my books for the RITA - in fact I've only ever
entered six books. It costs too much!
Do you know why the judges for the two awards may have
chosen the books they did as finalists?
I
have my RITA scores for my books that didn't final and
they're all over the place - scoring from four to nine. So
I'd accept that there's an element of luck - certainly
within the RITA. That said the books that have finaled have
all been books that have been written from the heart. After
forty seven books I'll admit that some books seem more of a
chore than others and it does reflect in their contest
success. I had so much fun writing Tom Bradley's Babies
and I'm thrilled that it's made it to double finalist
status. And Doctor On Loan had me in tears!
Do you hear from your readers often? What do they tell
you they enjoy most about your books?
My reader feedback seems to be that my books - especially my
medicals - deal with real people and real emotions. That's
not to say they're not fantasy but the issues I deal with
can make people cry as well as smile. Doctor On Loan
- my medical which has made it to the RITAs (Hooray for
Medicals!!!) deals with a young doctor's commitment to her
community. It looks at the issues of young Koori kids and
the trouble they have assimilating into a background that's
not their own. To my amazement it's finaled as a Best Traditional Romance in
America and it's had huge reader response. So maybe I've
found my niche - broadening my romantic base with real life
issues.
I noticed in some of your books another sort of real life
issue, that some of the heroes have found the life they
planned quite different from the one that bought fulfilment
in the end.
That's a common theme to all our books - love transcends and
changes in a fundamental way. If our heroes and heroines ran
their lives according to plan it'd make for a very boring
read.
I think you have a gift for writing with warm humour. Can
you share where that comes from? Do you have any tips for writing humour?
Help. Where does humour come from? I have no idea but when
it does it's magic. I can be sitting at the computer
chortling away and have absolutely no idea who's writing the
damned thing. Though
I guess I'm always on the look-out for what's funny. Last
year a friend took my family prawn fishing - my friend was
pushing the boat in waist deep water as others held the nets
and flashlight. Suddenly a squid wrapped himself around my
friend's leg - he nearly drowned with shock, he suffered
bruising where he'd kicked himself trying to get the thing
off and it went straight into the pages of my work in
progress. I'm not quite sure if I've been forgiven yet.
There, you made me laugh again! Marion, your books give
many glimpses of the working life of your characters. How do
you research the careers of your heroes and heroines?
I
don't research while I'm writing. If I want to say she sewed
back his thumb or he put out the oil-well fire then I'll
write it as I imagine it and then do the research and add
the technical stuff later. I think that's important as
otherwise the book gets bogged down in description. The
romance is the important thing - not the
technicalities. My rule is especially important if I'm
writing a medical though it works for all. When I find out
lots of good stuff and feel intelligent (Yep, sometimes I
do!) it's very tempting to put it all in -just because I
invested so much time finding out about it.
Marion,
a question I have to ask, being impressed that you have
written 47 books… Could you share how you keep up such a
steady pace of work?
Being a writer is what I do. And therefore the thing to do
is do it. Having writer's block or sulking because the
plot's not working or even spending meaningful time with my
refrigerator doesn't produce anything. I have a schedule. I
have deadlines. I stick to them.
Nora Roberts gave us the line `You can fix a bad page - you
can't fix a blank page' and that's my work ethic. If the
thing's not working then I write my way through it and go
back and fix the dud stuff up later. If I was working for a
boss and I was slack then I'd be sacked. Because I'm working
for myself then it has to be me who imposes discipline.
What
helps you to write?
Chocolate. And deadlines.
Marion, I think you must be very good at deadlines. I was
alarmed to hear that at the time I asked you to do this interview, you were
also doing final work on a book due in London by the end of
May!'
Do you have any new books coming up for release or works
in progress?
A Royal Proposition (Tender) is due to be released
here in October. The Doctors' Baby (Medical - the
last of my Bay Beach books) is out in November. Dr.
Blake's Angel (Medical) is due out in December in time
for Christmas and A Millionaire for Molly (Tender)
will be released early in 2002. I've just (yesterday -
hooray!!!) finished a medical (as yet unnamed) and am
currently working on Tell No One - a part of the
Forrester Square Series to be released in the States next
year.
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Marion Lennox has two books listed in the finalists
for this year's RBOTY Awards: A Child in Need and
Tom Bradley's Babies.